The present invention relates to a system of symbols for hearing impaired people, and to the use of such symbols, the symbols serving to identify people with impaired hearing, and to indicate which ear is affected, or both, and to give the degree of hearing loss.
Hearing impairment is the most prevalent physical disability in the United States of America, yet hearing impairment receives far less attention than seems justified. According to the latest statistics compiled by the American Hearing Research Foundation of Chicago, Ill., there are an estimated 13.4 million hearing impaired people in this country, and the number increases steadily every year. A higher percentage of men than women is prevocationally deaf, a long standing fact which has repeated in every decennial census since 1830.
The following United States Patents may be of interest to the reader as background information, although none of them seem pertinent to the present invention:
______________________________________ Patent Number Date Inventor(s) ______________________________________ 1,691,456 November 13, 1928 Beck 2,871,485 February 3, 1959 Greco 3,472,198 October 14, 1969 Rinecker 4,179,833 December 25, 1979 Knodel 4,375,133 March 1, 1983 Fenrich et al. 4,581,271 April 8, 1986 Gordon ______________________________________
Beck discloses a sign for use by a blind person at street intersections, to indicate that handicap to motorists. The sign has opposite faces that are identical and has a hole whereby the upright position of the sign can be determined by the sense of touch.
Greco teaches a garment provided with readily interchangeable indicia enabling the wearer, at will, to display specialized insignia such as fraternity or sorority insignia, club insignia, or avocation insignia, such as having to do with yachting, aviation or equestrianism.
Rinecker discloses a signaling device that is wearable on an article of clothing. The device has an indicator with a daytime visible portion and a nighttime visible portion. A member is secured to the article of clothing directly over the indicator and is movable to cover one or the other of the portions.
Knodel teaches an information reminding device having a strap-like body portion wearable on a person's wrist. The body portion carries a tab with an area for carrying a reminding message on one or both sides.
Fenrich et al. presents an information tab holder for attachment to clothing during athletic activities. The tag has an elongated pouch for receiving an information bearing insert. The information may be of medical nature.
Gordon discloses an ID tag usable with indicia means, storable within the tag.
It is an important object of the invention to provide a simple system of symbols for hearing impaired people to identify them as such, to identify the ear(s) affected and to give the degree of the impairment.
It is a further object to provide such a system that is simple, attractive and inexpensive.
Additional objects and advantages will appear hereinafter.